From Student to Specialist: How Abby Became a Certified Hypopressives Trainer

From Student to Specialist

I never thought I’d end up here — teaching breath, posture, and pelvic floor awareness to the most amazing trainers and clients around the world. When I first discovered Hypopressives, I was a tired mum of two, desperate to find a way back to myself. My body felt foreign, my confidence had disappeared, and the system I turned to for help offered only surgery, squeezing, and silence. No one even offered me a pessary.

But I’ve always believed there’s a way through — and that our bodies are far more capable of healing than we’re often told.

Finding a Method That Transformed Everything

When I was younger, I lived in Germany on Lake Konstanz as an exchange student. My German dad (Helmer) was a doctor, and my German mum (Lydia) was a Eurythmy teacher — both inspired my love of anatomy and movement. It was there my fascination with the body began.

Life brought me back to the UK, where I trained as a drama teacher. I loved working with teenagers — seeing how movement, voice, and expression could change how they felt about themselves. But after having my boys, I couldn’t do my job anymore. I needed to pee all the time (you can’t pop out of a classroom every ten minutes to use the toilet!).. My pelvic floor was sore, and it felt like my body belonged to someone else.

Like so many women, I had no idea what was happening. I couldn’t drive anywhere without stopping every ten minutes to find a toilet. I was frightened of leaking at work, so I stopped drinking water and ended up with gallstones. Then came the diagnosis: three prolapses after the birth of my second boy. “Surgery is your only option,” they said. “Come back when you’ve finished having babies.”

It was the first time in my life I didn’t enjoy life — but I wanted to. So I did what so many women do: I started searching.

I spent hours online trying to find an alternative and stumbled across a story by a Canadian woman, Trista Zinn, who had healed her prolapse using Hypopressives. I reached out, and she connected me with Tamara Rial, the co-founder of Low Pressure Fitness in Spain, who in turn found Sally Scott — the only Level 1 Hypopressives trainer in Edinburgh at the time. That small chain of women, spanning continents, was the lifeline that pulled me out of despair.

And that’s where everything changed.

As I began learning Hypopressives, I started to feel real shifts — not imagined ones, but tangible. The heavy, bulging sensation began to ease. My bladder control improved. There were days I even forgot I had a prolapse at all.

“When I first learned Hypopressives, I realised it was the missing link — not just for my own recovery, but for so many women searching for answers.”

From Practitioner to Trainer

I’ve always been curious, and once I realised Hypopressives worked, I wanted to understand why. I chose to invest in myself and begin training, first in London, then in Barcelona and Vigo with Tamara, Natalia and Piti.

I still remember standing in the airport, terrified of flying, wondering if I was imagining the feeling of my organs lifting — or if it was really happening, wondering if I was just chasing something impossible. But I was so desperate to find a way to heal that I went anyway. That trip changed everything.

There were no Hypopressive schools in the UK at that time, so I went straight to the source — to learn from the creators, to see the science, and to feel the results in my own body. What began as a personal experiment became a mission.

In 2019, alongside Master Trainers from around the world, we founded the International Hypopressive Council (IHC). I was honoured to become the UK’s only Senior Master Trainer, creating structured training pathways for practitioners and building a professional community around a method that had once been almost impossible to access here.

Bringing Expert Training to the UK

That’s when I founded Hypopressive Scotland — to make this powerful, body-led method accessible to others. I wanted to give women, movement professionals, and health practitioners the same tools that had transformed me.

Hypopressive Scotland has since grown into the UK hub for Hypopressive training — offering globally recognised courses, flexible online and in-person study, mentorship, and ongoing professional development.

Through my role with the International Hypopressive Council, I continue to help shape standards for trainer education, ensuring quality, integrity, and evidence-based teaching remain at the heart of everything we do.

Whether you’re a physiotherapist, Pilates instructor, yoga teacher, or personal trainer, the Hypopressive pathway provides an entirely new way to understand breath, pressure, posture, and the pelvic floor.

Empowering Trainers Across the UK and Beyond

My goal isn’t just to teach Hypopressives — it’s to create confident, compassionate trainers who can transform lives in their own communities.

When someone trains with me, they don’t just learn a series of poses. They learn to see movement differently — to read posture, feel tension, and teach with empathy. They gain a deep understanding of how breath, fascia, and the nervous system work together. And they learn to trust their own body again so they can help others do the same.

As one of my students put it:

“Her knowledge is infallible, not only is she a fab instructor, she’s a great human. Just one lesson with her will give you tools to help yourself long term.”

The best part of my work is watching trainers go out and build their own communities — from Edinburgh to Australia — sharing a method that changes not just bodies, but lives.

Experience, Expertise, and a Holistic Approach

What makes Hypopressive Scotland stand apart is more than just certification — it’s the philosophy behind it.

I’ve continued to study and integrate modalities that complement Hypopressives: Somatic Movement, TRE® (Tension & Trauma Release), Franklin Method, Strength and Resistance Training, Kettlebells, and Mobility Coaching. These all work in harmony, creating what I now call The Abby Method — a truly holistic approach to pelvic health.

Because real healing doesn’t come from one exercise. It comes from understanding your body as a team — breath, pressure, movement, and mindset working together.

As one of my long-term clients, Amy, shared:

“I couldn’t even lift a block without feeling like my insides would fall out. Now I’m cooking for my family, playing with my grandbabies, and completely symptom-free. It’s miraculous.”

Every testimonial, every message, every success story reminds me why I do what I do.

Start Your Hypopressive Training Pathway

If you’re ready to expand your practice, support others through body-led recovery, and become part of a global community of professionals changing the face of pelvic health — start your own Hypopressive training journey. You can also contact us to find out more.

Our structured pathways include online and in-person options, flexible payment plans, and mentorship at every stage.

You can absolutely heal — and you can absolutely teach others to do the same.

We start where we are, we look forward, not back.

And that’s the magic